If you count only the village of Hoffenheim itself, with 3,266 residents, TSG took over in 2008 from Unterhaching, which had around 22,000 inhabitants, as the smallest Bundesliga town. If you add the population of Sinsheim, where Hoffenheim’s matches are played, the number rises to around 36,000, which would still leave them behind Haching. Before the Munich suburb side reached the Bundesliga in 1999, the Saarland club FC 08 Homburg, with 44,000 inhabitants, had held the title of smallest Bundesliga town for more than a decade.
But unlike the other “small” clubs such as Unterhaching, Homburg or, before them, Borussia Neunkirchen, Hoffenheim not only established themselves permanently in the Bundesliga, they also became the only true village club to break into European competition.
